An article has been making the rounds lately listing 25 of these so-called “essential” Prince albums. And naturally there was some (ahem) controversy about which made the list and which were omitted.
No list is ever going to accrue a 100% approval rating. That’s just a fact. But it does raise an interesting question.
It also brings me back to my humble beginnings in the fandom. I did my research and drafted a list of 7 albums I needed to have.
I quickly learned one major thing and it sums things up perfectly.
At the end of the day, ALL of Prince’s albums are essential. Everyone I talked to had their own recommendations and a different album I should not overlook. Add all that together and I wound up with pretty much every album except anything NPG music club exclusive.
I only restricted my purchases to a list because I didn’t want to overwhelm myself but mainly I wanted to save money. Well that certainly didn’t happen. In 17 years, I’ve spent close to 1K on all my Prince stuff, including books and concert tickets to associated acts.
So back to the original point- what defines essential? After all, Prince had done 40+ albums in his long career.
In another effort, however futile, to save myself some work, I’m not going to make this a deep dive in-depth discussion.
And I’m not going to rank anything or restrict it to a number cuz it doesn’t seem fair. With Prince, there should be as many essential albums as it takes to prove the point.
To be considered for inclusion, some criteria needs to be met.
It’s the first time Prince is attempting something new
Notable innovation
Biographical significance- meaning it marks a notable time in his life
But just to be a little selfish, my subjective opinion will come into play as well. Every list, whether the author admits it or not, has some subjectivity.
First off, there’d be no NPG music club stuff. Other than the original “The Dance,” I’ve never heard any of the songs and have no desire for them.
I also wouldn’t include contractual obligations chaos and disorder or the vault. Prince recorded them and essentially threw them on Warner Bros’s desk saying “there, I’ve fulfilled my contract”, walked out and moved onto emancipation.
This brings up another potential criterion for consideration. Does the amount of promotion Prince do for an album determine how essential it is?
The short answer- it depends. Because some albums he promoted heavily that weren’t innovative or they didn’t add anything significant to his body of work. Others he did not promote much at all but they’re important for other reasons. Then there’s the one time he heavily promoted an album but by the time it was released he’d already moved on and it’s one of his most important albums.
Now to go chronologically- I’ll name each album, say why it’s essential or not and have a counter argument if there’s one to make.
Up front, I’d consider every album up until Batman essential without question.
The 90s are a mixed bag and a few counter arguments can be made.
Everything afterwards, it’ll be mostly restricted to personal opinion because there’s a lot of room for interpretation.
For You
essential? Yes
Why? It’s the first one. It’s also standing proof of Prince’s genius at a young age and his ability to make an entire record on his own. Writing, playing and singing everything on it
Prince
essential? Yes
Why? It’s an early sign of Prince’s potential as a pop artist. “I wanna be your lover” and “I feel for you.” Plus Bambi is a guitar staple with a risqué premise. Particularly at that time
So, I confess that neither of these were on my original list. I intended to skip them completely, only because I primarily saw Prince as an 80s artist and I wanted to focus more on that. I also wasn’t big on 70s music. That’s changed a bit in recent years but I still wouldn’t say with full confidence that I am. 60s and 70s have such a large variety in general. Some things I love and others just aren’t my thing and that’s perfectly fine.
Dirty mind
essential? Yes
Why? Many reasons
The songs started as demos he recorded in his home studio for himself. And if memory serves someone heard them and told them “this is your next album”. The production is raw but that’s what makes it good. You can feel every instrument as he plays it. It’s also Prince without a filter, making no apologies. His first of many records doing just that.
Controversy
essential? Yes
Why? It’s a similar album but with a little more studio polish. The title track is the first song that has that unique sound that screams “Prince”. It’s also his most political up to that point and it makes for an interesting time capsule in retrospect
Again, two albums that weren’t on my radar at first. Although I couldn’t tell you why cuz I don’t remember. It was so long ago. I’m grateful to the person who burned copies to send me. To this day I still haven’t gotten physical copies and I’ve yet to find them in person. Maybe the SDE releases will help finally fill that void… whenever we get them
1999, purple rain, sign o the times
all essential, no questions asked
All are Prince at what most consider his peak. The most creative, innovative, political and all around brilliant he’d ever been
all three are so significant for another reason: 1999 had been the culmination of every so far, purple rain became the defining era all others would undoubtedly be compared to. For me, Sign o the times was sold as the one album to wait for cuz once I listen to it, nothing else will measure up. Which honestly hyped it up so much that I didn’t fully enjoy it at first. But it’s also a testament to Prince being a workaholic during that time because the music came from 3 diff projects and many more songs were unreleased for some time
Around the world in a day
essential because it’s probably the most unexpected follow up album to an iconic one in the history of music. Now I’m sorta curious if this was anyone’s first Prince album. If they heard this before purple rain. They’d have such a unique perspective… I’m kinda jealous when I think about it
One counterpoint that could be made was the fact Prince released this with no promotion at all and it was only after pressure from his label he chose a single and did an accompanying video. But this is because he genuinely wanted to throw it out there at random to see how people would react
Also, just to add one more thing- probably his best b-sides ever. So good they could’ve easily have been album tracks
Parade
this album is one of my favorites but I’m having a hard time making a solid case for it. It’s his second cinematic adventure and the 2nd time the soundtrack is arguably better than the movie. It does have “kiss”, one of his most well known songs. But it’s a little more artsy than a conventional pop album. Not many songs shout out “hit single” but there are some definite standouts. On the other hand it is a solid as an album. Greater than the sum of its parts, I dare say
Black album and Lovesexy
both call back to an interesting period in Prince’s life.
The black album was an instance where he wrote an album in direct response to his critics at the time, saying he’d sold out to the white audience so it’s one of his funkiest albums in that respect. I first listened to it after doing dirty mind and controversy back to back and it was a natural transition. It’s also his first attempt at hip hop although it was more of a parody of if
Then he had a change of heart, stopped its release at the last possible minute and LoveSexy was the album he did instead. He’d alluded to it being a gospel album in later interviews. But like with anything, Prince puts his own spin on the genre so it’s not your typical Christian rock album. It’s more of a battle between good and evil. Those who read between the lines find that this album represents good and the cancelled black album was evil. It could be argued to many of his albums are theatrical but this is the first one that comes to mind for me personally
Batman
Essential? Roughly 50-50
Pros: it was Prince’s biggest commercial success since purple rain; it spawned 2 of his best known music videos- partyman and Batdance; electric chair was part of one of his best SNL performances; scandalous is considered to be one of his best ballads
Cons- most of the songs are considered filler or simply not up to Prince’s high standards. He had been on a hot streak, getting more innovative and groundbreaking with each album and this one doesn’t break as much ground. Also, I’m personally not a fan of his voice breaks on scandalous and most of the songs except for electric chair, partyman and Vicki waiting, are just ok.
Verdict: I don’t consider this album essential but just as many fans do. So if I had to choose a certain number, I’d put this ahead of a few other albums I don’t think highly of
Graffiti bridge
essential? Yes
The fact it has both the ? Of U, joy in repetition, thieves in the temple and still would stand all time makes it an extremely important album. But it’s not without its flaws. I wasn’t there but it wouldn’t surprise me if this album was the designated punching bag until the rainbow children (and later planet earth) came out. Early into my fandom, people were trashing it so much I didn’t have any interest. Then one fan sent me just the Prince tracks and I became a fan
Another significant positive: it’s an example of Prince going into his vault and reworking old music. Over the years it seems like there are more graffiti bridge songs this applies to. The only ones left that are original to the project are the title track, thieves in the temple, elephants and flowers and still would stand all time- as far as I’m personally aware. My breadth of knowledge isn’t perfect
The biggest negative is it being a compilation album where the protege tracks fall desperately short of the level of his music. It’s bad enough that this project got turned into the purple rain sequel nobody wanted (meaning- of course people wanted a purple rain sequel. They just didn’t want one like this where the term “sequel” was used very loosely). But the attempt to rectify the fact associated songs were left off that album didn’t go over well. It’s probably the first time one of his albums accrued a lot of negative feedback
As much as this album gets hated on, it has its fans. I want to use the term “diehard” fans and it makes me wonder which Prince albums have the most devoted supporters where they’d go Braveheart on anyone who disagrees with them
Diamonds and Pearls
essential? yes
It’s his first album officially with his new band, the new power generation. Very commercially successful with lots of great music videos associated with it.
The only big negative for most fans is the inclusion of rap in the form of Tony M
The symbol album
essential? Yes
I had some hesitation about including this because Prince went into it with a grandiose idea and that didn’t fully come across in the final product. Although to be fair, Prince doesn’t always follow through with his ideas. You could even say he gets easily distracted at times because he wound up dumping much of this album’s story in fact of a brand new song he included last minute.
However it carries some significance in his career. It was the debut of the symbol he later adopted as his new name. It created additional friction with his label (particularly what the first single should be). It also starts with “my name is Prince” and ends with “my name will be victor”
I feel like the one thing still missing with this album is a music video for “3 chains o gold.” A song of such an epic scale needs a visual counterpart. I also believe that it should’ve been the finale and the last 2 tracks, if included at all, should be hidden tracks. Not a big thing anymore but in the 90s when this album came out, it certainly was
Come and The Gold Experience
both essential. On any diehard Prince fan’s list of top albums, you’ll find one or both of these somewhere
During his feud with his label, Prince wanted to release them at the same time but under different names. One as “old” Prince material and the other, shiny new material by the symbol. Technically all but a small number of these songs were recorded around the same time, which was considered a peak of creativity
Chaos & disorder/the vault
essential? No
Come was also a contractual obligation album but it got more promotion than these other 2 combined. Come tracks can be found in “the beautiful experience” short film, which has early versions of the album tracks. Chaos and disorder only had a couple music videos and 1-2 songs that sometimes come into set lists. The vault- no promo I’m personally aware of
One album is rock and the other is jazz with some weird stuff thrown in. For an album called The Vault, its contents don’t do it justice. Especially when you compare it to what’s come out of the vault over the last few years.
If not for an acquaintance, I wouldn’t have bothered with either of them. Chaos has its moments but I have to REALLY be in the mood
The Truth/one night alone piano
they’re both essential because they show how efficient Prince is when he’s recorded around one main instrument, like showing off two sides of his personality. Neither are purely acoustic and have a little additional production value. But anyone who wants a better idea of how great Prince is as an instrumentalist, both are worth it
Both are also one man band efforts so that’s another bonus
Emancipation
This is a similar case as the symbol album, except that the one expectation that fell short for most fans was the quality of its contents. Prince had always wanted to do a 3 disc album and he finally had that opportunity to do it, newly free from his contract. He also promoted it across all media that it was the album he was born to make. So many fans were put off when they found the 36 songs not living up to the hype
However I’d still consider this an essential album because it was from a significant time in his life. He was free from his restrictive contract and was about to settle down into the life of a family man. A life that sadly only lasted a short time- his son died of complications and his marriage to Mayte never fully recovered from it
Crystal ball
this is more of a compilation than an album but it’s still 30 songs across 3 discs. Several of these songs were cut from previous projects and a couple are a little more recent
Diehard fans would probably consider this set essential… the trick is tracking down a copy or having a friend who has it and is willing to send you the songs themselves
Rave
essential? No
Two versions of this album were released. In2 is a remix/extended version of the original with one brand new song and a couple omissions. Most fans prefer the In2 version just for the new song alone
It was curated to follow the success of Santana’s Supernatural album, which featured a lot of current artists and introduced Santana to a younger audience. While Prince had some notable guest stars on the album, most fans consider them as a footnote because most aren’t featured prominently. Chuck D’s rap wasn’t received as well as Eve’s and everyone’s contributions were backing vocals more than duets
Although some songs hint at the end of his marriage, it doesn’t contribute much to his legacy as an artist in my opinion. But my opinion has become slightly biased in recent years. Mayte’s memoir revealed that Prince ended their relationship, not her. With that knowledge, it’s hard for me to listen to Prince portray himself as the victim. “Man o war” is about an argument which is fine but the other breakup song (I love you but I don’t trust you anymore) where he suspects infidelity- false. In fact he was the one who cheated. This isn’t to say Prince hasn’t cheated in the past; he absolutely did. It wasn’t out of the ordinary for him to juggle 2-3 women at once. But this is a case that has been confirmed. The end result is that only a small amount of this album is listenable for me anymore. The greatest romance sums up the breakup perfectly that the other two songs are unnecessary and there’s a bunch of songs I dislike on their own. Oddly enough the two “duets” where you barely hear the female vocals are some of my personal favorites
Another issue with this album is the year it was released. Fans expected something spectacular when the year 1999 hit. Instead they got 2 subpar albums Prince could’ve sleepwalked through making. It’s too bad too because he promoted Rave so heavily and that was what helped determine which albums I purchased. Had I known what I know now, would I still have bought a copy? Probably- if only for the 5-6 songs I do enjoy listening to
The rainbow children
essential? I personally don’t think so but many fans do
Even before learning the truth about this album from Mayte (how the opening song sums up how Prince’s Jehovah’s Witness friends drove a wedge between them and he chose them over her), I wasn’t a fan of it. Quite honestly it put me to sleep the first couple of times I listened to it… it just made very little impact beyond a few songs. The so-called darth Vader voice that served as narrator wasn’t a deal breaker so much as the deep and highly specific messages in it.
I wrote a LOT about this album for this post and it dawned me as much as this is one of Prince’s more bizarre creations, a lot of my issues with it are personal and honestly should be left for another time. The only one I’ll mention is the fact the narrative in the community surrounding this album changed at some point, where it went from being one of his worst albums ever to being the best of that particular decade. And I’m highly suspicious that planet Earth was what promoted this change… as if “TRC has the weird darth Vader voice and the religious stuff but at least it’s something different and unpredictable”, which the trio of pop albums he’s put out in a row had been. And to put it mildly, as someone who loves pop music in general and doesn’t like when artists insert divisive beliefs into their work, I completely disagreed
Prince’s newfound religion set the tone for the rest of his career. No more cursing or overly suggestive material. He’ll occasionally do something sociopolitical and it’d be through that specific lens of “I have my faith. If you’re interested in hearing the truth, join me. Otherwise your version is wrong.” Or he’ll talk about urging people in power to change things even though Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t vote per their doctrine. This album starts all that. Some fans have been lucky enough to be the kinds of people who don’t listen to lyrics or they’re able to tune out all the dogma and appreciate the music on its own. Sadly I’m not one of those people. I trust when people say this music is exceptional compared to some of the stuff that came later but I’ll never appreciate it because I can’t tune things out and I’ve tried hard to do that. Unlike LoveSexy, it’s hard to listen and take your own message away from it. And if you manage to, it’s undoubtedly going to be complicated
Musicology
essential? Yes
Not only was Prince in the public eye a lot during this time but this album has a great message behind it. It’s him going back to his roots. Not just as a one man band but also showing off the genres of music he grew up with. Plus the whole mantra of “real music by real musicians” he’d stick with for the rest of his career. He talked a lot about how artists in those days are disposable and thrown into the spotlight and yanked out of it before getting a chance to hone their craft.
The one thing this album lacks is notes about which artists these songs connect to. He name checks his influences in the title song but I wish there was more information. I’ve become more acquainted with sly and the family stone and Earth Wind and Fire in recent years but I couldn’t tell you where I hear their influences in these songs. I’m not perceptive enough to make those connections and I’d really like to.
3121, planet earth, lotusflow3r, MPLSound, 20ten
how essential these albums are will ultimately come down to personal bias
I enjoy 3121, planet earth, and 20ten a lot because they’re pop albums and I enjoy the majority of them. How much they add to Prince’s legacy, I can’t say for sure. 3121 is probably the only one that qualifies, if only because he did several live performances of the album tracks… performances that made the studio versions inferior by comparison. (A similar thing happened with the gold experience- fans knew the songs before the album came out and the album versions didn’t live up to their live counterparts). The other 2 he released as cross promotion with newspapers and magazines. 20ten not getting an official American release at all either suggests that he didn’t believe in it enough to share it with his home country or he’d moved onto another project and just forgot. Planet Earth has some of my favorite songs by him but I can’t make a compelling case for it. Especially when he had the Super Bowl halftime show and his 21 night residency in London and neither platform was used to promote it
Lotusflow3r and MPLSound were promoted both by Target and 3 performances on Jay Leno and they have their moments. But the only way they inform Prince’s legacy is the fact he made an exclusive deal with Target to sell it. Plus the lotusflow3r website which was another platform to promote new music. But it was plagued with so many problems and required a steep entry fee… it’s notable more for its failures than successes
Plectrum Electrum/art official age
both are essential
Plectrum was with his current all female band and had been hyped up for years while he was just releasing a couple songs at a time. It’s a good example of him as a live musician but also what happens when he takes already mega talented people under his wing and mentors them to be something greater
Art official age is considered by many as Prince’s last album where its cohesive start to finish. It’s futuristic and experimental but mostly a uniquely Prince musical experience
HitnRun Phase one and Phase Two
whether these are essential is subjective. I wouldn’t consider either of them super important even though I enjoy them whenever I listen to
Phase one is another example of mentorship. The first time Prince brought an outside producer. While few fans appreciated Josh Welton’s work, I personally don’t mind it. Although the first few songs are not ones I like because it’s too heavy in the electronic hip hop direction.
And phase two- as good as it is, it’s a hard one to listen to for me personally. I didn’t get a physical copy until after Prince passed away. So it’s always gonna have that “too soon” ick the way purple rain deluxe did… maybe someday soon I’ll try again and see if anything changed cuz it’s been 6 years since my last listen
To summarize; what Prince albums would be essential according to this post
For you through LoveSexy
Graffiti bridge through gold experience
Emancipation and crystal ball
The truth and one night alone
Musicology
Plectrum electrum
Art official age
So a total of 23 albums. And if I have to make it 25, I’d add 3121 and maybe hit n run phase 2
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